One of those items was a very plain looking wooden pheasant with duct tape on it. There was a large crack in one side and some sharpie markings on its eyes and collar, undoubtedly a yard sale purchase that never got cleaned up.
The couple that decided to adopt this little bird commissioned me to give it a little face lift! So here are some photos of before and after the little pheasant's renewal.
The wood was quite lovely with some swirls and some patches of wood stain still on it. I tried to keep some of the original wood charm by applying thin washes of color on at first and pulling out some of the patterns in the wood for the brown feathers. I attempted to bring this bird back to life!
The fun part about this whole process is that Joe loved finding beauty is discarded things. There is a bumpy green ceramic fish that came out of his office that is up front on stage in the sanctuary. His wife put it up there because it reminded her of Joe's love for redemption. Joe said that it was such an ugly fish that he had to buy it, because nobody else would. It had green marbles tucked into it's body, and Joe said that when you plug it in, and the light shines through it, it is quite lovely. All of us feel discarded sometimes. Our sins have a way of making us ugly, and separating us from people and from God. But God reaches out to us in our sin and offers us forgiveness. He offers us the Holy Spirit to shine inside us and light our way, and bring back the beauty of who He made us to be. That is the story of redemption! That is the story that I hope shines through all of my artwork! -thanks for joining my journey, Deborah King |